Rough Patch
by Scarlet has Fantasy Issues
Summary: Matt loves his girlfriend, but she's going through things that he knows that get hard to deal with. When Jeff has an idea after she runs into trouble, can it help her?


**A/N: Hello loves. Been having a rough time in my head and needed to get some things worked out. Some of this kinda sparks true, but it's slightly different too. I'm weird that way. Enjoy.**

**OOOOOOOOO**

Matt Hardy grabbed himself a couple of cans of Coke from the fridge – one vanilla just for his girl and headed out of the kitchen. Jeff was visiting him and Lori that night, but she'd been getting rather quiet in the past hour, staring at her phone before walking upstairs to change into her pajamas before rejoining the two Hardy brothers.

"So, how's the writing going, Lori?" Jeff was asking as Matt came back into the living room.

Matt's dark eyes zeroed in on the redhead in the middle of the room, sitting on the edge of the couch like she was perched on the edge of a cliff, ready to fall. Her topaz eyes were unfocused as she looked at Jeff and Matt knew something was going on in her head. Something not good.

"It's going okay," Lori said, curling her fingers in the leg of her pajama bottoms. "I'm stuck on all of my novels. Like major stuck, but I'm trying to get there."

Jeff chuckled. "I don't see how you can write so many novels on your own at once. Don't authors who do that usually have a team or something?"

"Lori's amazing like that," Matt told his brother, coming over and offering his girl her preferred drink.

"She is pretty amazing," Jeff agreed with a smile.

Lori stared at the drink that was offered to her for a moment before taking it. She held it in her hands and then looked at her phone again. Matt glanced over at his brother, who shrugged and put a finger to his forehead.

"You think?" he mouthed.

Matt nodded and looked back at his girlfriend. "Lori," he began gently.

Lori didn't respond to him, she just kept looking at her phone. Matt sighed and moved over to the couch, taking his seat next to her. When he tried to drape his arm around her, Lori shied away from him and twisted in her seat.

"Lori?" Matt asked, watching her face. "You okay, hon?"

Lori shook her head and slowly rose to her feet. She dropped her drink and bolted for the door.

"Oh shit!" Matt exclaimed, jumping to his feet and racing after her. "Lori, no!"

Lori tried to unbolt the door and pull it open, her hands scraping against the door. Matt gently put himself between her and the door and put his hands on her arms, looking down at her unfocused topaz eyes. Lori made soft sounds in her throat and trembled against him, looking at things past his head.

"No, Lori, no," Matt said gently. "Focus on me. Not on them. It's just you, me, and Jeff in this house right now."

Lori's eyes turned towards the door and she made that sound in her throat again. Matt shook his head and squeezed her arms. He put himself firmer between her and the door.

"You're not going outside," he told her. "Not like this. Not on your own. I can't let you. Come on, Lori. Come back to me."

Lori trembled and made a face at him. She looked over at the door and back at the walls and then at the door again. Jeff rose to his feet and slid behind Matt, locking the door.

"No going out, baby girl," Jeff said, sliding out from behind Matt again. "You gotta focus." He looked at his little brother. "Did she take her meds?"

Matt looked at Lori. "Did you already take your meds, love?"

Lori nodded and made a small sound again. Clearly, she wasn't in the mood to talk or couldn't and Matt was leaning towards couldn't. He'd had to manage to get around her non-verbal communication before and he'd been successful in coaxing her responses out. Lori made a gesture at her head and looked at Matt imploringly.

"What's she trying to say, Matt?" Jeff asked, watching the two of them.

"Chorus is acting up," Matt told his brother, running his hands up and down Lori's arms. "Singing or talking, Lori?"

Lori bit her bottom lip and her legs trembled underneath her, threatening to give out. Matt gripped her tightly in his arms and glanced over his shoulder at his brother.

"Fucking hell," Jeff grumbled, running a hand through his hair. "You want me to go and let her get some sleep? It's way past time for her to get to bed and she must be exhausted, bro."

Matt nodded. "She's not used to staying up this late, even when I'm not wrestling. Can you let yourself out and lock up behind you?"

"Sure." Jeff reached out and put a light hand on Lori's shoulder, squeezing gently. "You're going to be all right, baby girl."

Lori stared at him and made a small sound in her throat before opening her mouth, "Sorry…" she whispered.

"Don't be," Jeff told her with a small smile. "I love you both." He looked back at his brother. "Take care of her or else."

Matt flipped his brother off and then looked back at his girlfriend. "You ready for bed, hon?"

Lori nodded and then looked back at the door and whatever was beyond his head. Matt shook his own head and turned her around gently.

"No, bedtime," Matt said, easing her down the hall and towards the stairs. "No going outside. I've got you. They don't. Remember that."

He guided her towards their room and flicked on their bedroom light. Lori set her phone aside and perched herself on the foot of the bed, curling her hands on her lap. Her eyes watched him sadly as he stripped out of his shirt and stepped out of his jeans before he looked at her again. Lori reached her hands out to him and Matt moved over to her, letting her pull him to her. She pulled him against her and pressed her lips softly against his and trembled as she fought to breathe.

"Easy," Matt whispered, laying on his side next to her as she looked at him. "I've got you, Lori. I've got you. You're all right." He glanced farther up the bed and then back at her. "You want to move up to the pillows, love? We might be more comfortable up there."

Lori nodded and extracted herself out of his arms. She rolled over and crawled up to the bed to the pillows before plopping down onto the bed with her face to the wall. Matt sighed and flicked off the light before joining her. He wrapped his arms around her and gripped her wrists when he felt her starting to dig her fingernails into her skin.

"Shh," he whispered against her red hair when he heard her whimper. "I've got you, love. You're safe."

Lori shook her head and made that sound again, still stuck in nonverbal communication. She sniffled and kicked her legs out. Matt let out a small laugh despite himself.

"That's right," he told her. "Kick those mother fuckers out of here. Send them to the moon. Curb stomp their monkey asses."

Lori rolled over in his arms and looked up at him in the moonlight that filtered in through the window. Her eyes were wet with tears and Matt reached a hand up to smooth his thumb over the curve of her cheek. Lori opened her mouth, swiping her tongue over her bottom lip.

"I'm…sorry…" she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Don't be, love," Matt ordered gently, petting her hair which he loved doing anyway. "I love you and I want to take care of you." He looked into her unfocused, wet eyes. "It's all right."

Lori shook her head and buried her face against his chest, crying softly. Matt held onto her tightly and spent moments keeping her hands away from her body, keeping her from scratching herself which she did when she got like this. It took awhile, but in about an hour, Lori's sounds faded and her breath evened out as she fell asleep in his arms. Matt looked down at her and then at his wrist when his smartwatch pinged. It was a message from Jeff.

_**How's Lori holding up?**_

_She's a wreck, but finally fell asleep._

_**That's good. I'll talk to you tomorrow. I've got an idea.**_

_Sounds good. Talk to you soon._

Matt looked back at his sleeping girlfriend and pressed his lips to the top of her head. "I love you, Lori.," he yawned.

OOOOOOOOO

Matt and Jeff stood on one side of the kitchen island while Lori sat at the side, scrolling through her phone while sipping at coffee and chatting with them. She looked better than she did the night before, but not great. To Matt, she was always beautiful, but she looked like she was still going in and out of her head at times.

"How are you feeling, Lori?" Jeff asked, setting his coffee mug down.

"Meh," Lori muttered with a small smile.

"All right, what did I tell you about that word?" Matt asked, lifting an eyebrow at her.

"Booty pops," Lori replied with a small laugh that didn't quite meet her eyes.

Jeff laughed and then looked back at Matt when Lori fell silent. Matt shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his coffee. Jeff cleared his throat and turned his coffee mug in his hands.

"So, I was talking to Adam and Kat last night and I found out that Kat is just like Lori, but she's got herself a good doctor and decent meds," Jeff said, sending Lori a glance. "I ain't gonna lie, Lori, but your doctor is shit."

"We're working on it," Matt said before looking at Lori. "Did you know about Kat having -?"

"She told me, but I didn't want to talk about it," Lori muttered, staring at her phone. "It's not my place."

"Anyway, Kat said that her doctor gave her some medication that she could take when she's experiencing a really bad episode. An emergency medication, she called it." Jeff sipped his coffee. "It helps her manage her symptoms and lets her wrestle and travel with the company like she does. But she's got a good doctor that lets her have this. Kat and Adam are going to see if they can get her doctor or someone in their practice to take a look at your case, Lori."

"That's nice," Lori muttered, not looking at anyone.

"This emergency medication, do you think we could get our hands on some soon?" Matt asked, concerned about his girlfriend as she rose to her feet and set her coffee aside.

"Kat actually gave her a handful of hers," Jeff told his little brother. His gaze flickered over to Lori as she slipped her phone into her pocket and started tapping her barefoot against the tiled floor. "Lori, what are you doing?"

Lori ignored him and took off running. Matt panicked and ran after her and saw her open the front door to their house, running out into the neighborhood. He and Jeff chased after her, calling her name, but Lori didn't seem to hear them. She didn't make it very far from the house before her phone went off in her jeans pocket and seemed to startle her. She slowed to a stop and stared out at the world. Matt came up behind her and put his hands on her arms, holding her tight against his chest just in case she tried to bolt again. Her phone fell silent as whoever was calling gave up.

"Lori…you can't…run off…like that…" Matt panted, feeling her tremble against him as she stared out into the distance. "Not without shoes…not on your own. You need to get…back inside."

Lori whispered, "Sorry."

"Don't be," Matt ordered gently. He squeezed her arms and looked down at her when she trembled more. "You want me to carry you back to the house?"

Lori turned around and looked at him for a moment before nodding. Matt swung her carefully onto his back and slid his hands under her thighs before walking home. Jeff met him halfway there and ran a hand through his hair, Lori's shoes in one hand.

"Sorry, I thought she might need these," Jeff muttered, tapping them against his thigh as he moved next to his brother.

"Nah, we're good," Matt told him. "This actually lets me do this." He slid one of his hands back and patted Lori on the booty, earning a small whine. "One booty pop and more to go, love."

Lori muttered something under her breath and let him carry her into the house. Matt carefully set her down on the couch and she let out a low hiss when her feet hit the floor. He looked down at them and then over at his brother.

"Can you go get the first aid kit?" he asked. "We might need it in case she cut her feet up on her little run."

Jeff nodded and ran off into the kitchen. Lori watched Matt as he knelt down in front of her and he gently lifted her right foot to see that it was just red, but not cut up. She made a small sound as he lifted her left foot and he saw little pieces of glass sticking in her skin.

"Bad?" she asked, watching his dark eyes.

"No, not that bad." Matt told her, shaking his head as he looked over her foot. He accepted the first aid kit from his brother and opened it, pulling out the tweezers. "I know this is going to hurt a bit, love, but you gotta let me take care of you."

"You can hold my hand if you want to, Lori," Jeff offered, taking a seat next to her.

Lori took hold of his hand and squeezed it as Matt started easing out the pieces of glass in her foot. She kept rather quiet as he cleaned her foot with antiseptic and then he wrapped it up before slipping some warm fuzzy socks on her feet. Lori wiggled her feet experimentally and her eyes flickered towards the door.

"Lori, no," Matt said, cupping her face between his hands. "Focus on me, love. Focus on me. Not one them. They're not real."

Lori nodded and looked at his eyes. "Matt…"

"Matt, this might be a good time to try Kat's meds," Jeff suggested, pulling out a small yellow bottle. He shook it so the few pills inside rattled. "It couldn't hurt to try them."

Matt took the pill bottle and opened it, pouring out one blue pill. He stared at it for a moment before offering it to Lori. "Do you want to try this, Lori?" he asked, watching her eyes. "I told you I would never pressure you into anything, so I'm going to let you decide whether we try this or not."

Lori's hand darted out and she grabbed the pill and she took it, dry swallowing it. She sank back against the couch and stared at him before sighing. Matt offered her a small smile and rose to his feet, giving his brother the silent order to watch his girlfriend while he put the first aid kit away.

It took an hour, but Lori was back to herself and not spacing out. She waved Jeff off as he left to tend to his own girlfriend's needs as Becca came back into town that day and looked over at Matt as he turned to her.

"Sorry about earlier," she whispered, hiding her hands in the sleeves of her "Bite Me" shirt. "I know you hate running out into the cold."

Matt shook his head and slid his arms around her, giving her a squeeze. "I'd run after you in any weather, Lori. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I love you," Matt told her with a smile.

Lori smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around him. "I love you too, Matt." She kissed him lightly. "Forever and always."

"And even longer," Matt promised, lifting her up into the air and kissing her again.

**OOOOOOOOO**

**A/N: We all go through rough patches and mine keep getting rougher. I hope you enjoyed this. If you didn't, why? Let me know, please? But no pressure here. Lots of love and much thanks. -Scarlet**


End file.
